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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29322045">Coffee With Death</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alternative_lore/pseuds/alternative_lore'>alternative_lore</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lore Olympus (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Coffee, F/M, First Dates, First Kiss, daphne is baby, thanatos got his shit together</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 10:08:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,591</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29322045</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alternative_lore/pseuds/alternative_lore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanatos gets his shit together and goes on a coffee date with Daphne. </p>
<p>Cute first date, basically.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Daphne/Thanatos (Lore Olympus)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Coffee With Death</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Okay so I’m full of hubris and may not have checked all my grammar, but honestly?? Pretty happy with Thanatos’s internal monologue. Baby boy learns what a healthy relationship is.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Some expect that death would be timely. However, it is the exact opposite. Death is sudden, unexpected. It never comes when you think it should.</p>
<p>Thanatos, being the god of such things, was no exception. He was either unexplainably late, or weirdly early. No in-between. This left Daphne in an uncomfortable position of sitting in a underworld cafe for half an hour, wondering if she got stood up by the literal personification of death. </p>
<p>Eventually, Thanatos slid into the booth seat, where Daphne sat squinting at her phone. When he sat down Daphne looked up, rolled her eyes, and made a big show of turning off her cell and setting it down.</p>
<p>“You invited me here, and then show up thirty minutes late? What the hell? That’s pretty rude, Thanatos.”  She scoffed, unimpressed with his manners. When Daphne received a call from Thanatos, he seemed pretty confident he ‘figured himself out’ and wanted to ask her out on a date. </p>
<p>He answered, surprised. <br/>“Wait, I’m late? I took the right bus.”<br/>Daphne blinked in surprise,<br/>“...don’t you have wings? What are you doing on a bus?” </p>
<p>Thanatos took the bus because he was lazy, he really didn’t have an excuse. He liked sitting on the bus, putting on his headphones with the latest podcast loaded up, and ignoring everybody for as long as a the journey took. Sometimes he even took a power nap. </p>
<p>“I, uh. I-“ He stammered, trying to think of a good excuse. When it became evident he didn’t have one, and simply didn’t have any concept of commute efficiency, Daphne rolled her eyes and sighed. </p>
<p>“Well, I ordered an espresso for you, and a chocolate scone!” She wiggled her shoulders, quickly shaking off her previous bad mood with her gleeful smile.<br/>“And for me! A large iced mocha with one pump vanilla and two pumps chocolate, plus extra foam. Oh and a blueberry muffin.” </p>
<p>Just as Daphne described their order, the waitress delivered it to their table. Just looking at Daphnes drink gave Thanatos a jittery sugar rush, and the impulse to take a picture and send it to “one-black-coffee” Snarky Chat for bullying purposes almost took over. But alas, he’s a changed man. That, and he was banned from the chat for pissing off Minthe. And, he liked Daphne- why would he make fun of someone for a coffee order? </p>
<p>“Oh, thanks.” He nodded at the waitress, and then moved to take a bite out of the scone. He peered over the table, watching Daphne contort to take a good picture of her drink. The silence of him watching her was too loud, punctuated by the shutter noises coming from the camera of the flower nymph’s phone. </p>
<p>“So, uh. How’s your media representation job going?” Internally, Thanatos was yelling at himself. What kind of stupid question was that? If he had asked Minthe about her work he’d probably get a long list of complaints. Most people didn’t actually like working, him included. </p>
<p>Daphne reacted the exact opposite of what Thanatos is thought she would. Her face lit up, and she started gesturing wildly as she described the ins and outs of “media marketing”. She smiled, giggled, and blushed her way through a speech on how a simple picture of coffee could be monetized to help a business.</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s so exciting! I never expected that technology would take me so far here amongst all these beings! When I was in the mortal realm, I lived at Demeter’s farms. One day, she needed someone to model her Barley Mother brand, and she picked me! And when I was doing the shoot, other agencies began to contact me! I’ve been out here since, both in Olympus and the Underworld.” </p>
<p>Thanatos nodded at her enthusiastically, and took a sip of his espresso. He couldn’t remember the last time someone was actually thrilled to explain something to him.<br/>“Wow, Daphne, that’s...that’s great!” <br/>Daphne grinned, she was obviously happy somebody was listening to her talk about her jobs. <br/>“So, how’s your job? I’ve talked way to much about myself.” She giggled, “You’re, like, super important.”</p>
<p>Thanatos went silent, he didn’t want to talk about just how shitty his job was. He didn’t CAUSE death, per se, but he was the reason mortal souls and life forces were able to leave their bodies and dissipate into the underworld. How was he supposed to explain to Daphne the feeling of causing a soul to leave it’s body? </p>
<p>“Uh. It’s-it’s work. People die a lot. I’m numb to it all at this point.” He tried to think of something poetic to say, <br/>“All things must come to an end, being immortal just disconnects you from it.” <br/>“Oh-“ Daphne figeted with her purse, and the mood between the two of them changed dramatically. </p>
<p><em>Oh shit oh shit oh shit, she’s not immortal.</em> It was pretty commonly known that most nymphs could live for thousands of years, especially river nymphs with a protected water source. However, most flower nymphs could only live about 100 years max- and that was assuming that their flower patch was protected. </p>
<p>“Thanatos- I’m sorry, uh- that wasn’t a great conversation starter, on my part.” <br/>She silenced herself by taking a drawn out sip of her coffee. </p>
<p>Taking a deep breath, she tried again.</p>
<p>“All things considered, the death isn’t all scary to me. I mean, supposedly I get another shot at life if I do a good job!” </p>
<p>She laughed at her reference to the underworld justice system, where you could choose to be reborn if you lived a well enough life.</p>
<p>Daphne easily bounced back from awkward moments, something Thanatos could never really do. But, being in her presence? He wanted to try. Maybe he didn’t have to worry about every bump in the road, and learn to enjoy the journey... even if it was a cheesy sentiment. </p>
<p>Thanatos and Daphne eventually fell onto a rhythm, chatting between sips of coffee and bites of pastries. As the minutes slipped by, eventually the waitress arrived at the table with a check. </p>
<p>“I can pay.” Thanatos slid his card across the table. Daphne, not to be outdone, announced she would tip.</p>
<p>Fumbling with her wallet, she squinted at the dollars, trying to count them out. <br/>“How much is 20% tip again?” </p>
<p>“..can’t you do the math?” Thanatos chuckled. Daphne glared back up.<br/>“I’m a influencer. Not a mathematician.” <br/>“Do you want help..?”<br/>“Nope!” Daphne insisted, tapping away at a calculator, and eventually pulling out a few bucks out of her wallet. After they both piled their plates and cups towards the end of the table, brushing the crumbs towards the napkins. </p>
<p>Thanatos mumbled into his coat as the walked out the door,<br/>“I don’t want this date to end...is that okay?” </p>
<p>Thanatos wasn’t quite sure of polite date rules- most of his action had been achieved in supply closets over the years. It had been awhile since an actual date. </p>
<p>“What?” Daphne blinked her blue rimmed eyes, shocked at the question.<br/>“Of course! Let’s go find a park or something. Does the underworld have that?” </p>
<p>Thanatos paused to think, gears visibly turning in his head. Then, an idea struck. </p>
<p>“Daphne, have you ever flown before?” <br/>Daphne shook her head and shrugged. <br/>“I mean? One time I road a pegasus, but it didn’t last long.” </p>
<p>Thanatos grinned, and his wings began to materialize. White feathers flew up to arc neatly up his body. He made a bigger show of it than he usually did, flapping his wings all around, but it’s no crime to attempt to impress your date. </p>
<p>Daphne was impressed, and she giggled as she slid her arms up into the soft down. <br/>“Oh, these are so pretty!” </p>
<p>Thanatos had never blushed harder. Helping Daphne up his back was more intimate than he thought it would be, her body pressing into his. He liked it. He liked <em>her</em>, and wasn’t afraid to admit he was having a great time on this date. </p>
<p>Flying up into the sky, the pair watched the lights of the underworld spin around them, Daphne making comments and telling stories inspired by the billboards surrounding them.</p>
<p>Eventually, they landed at a carousel, spinning slowly in the underworlds darkness. It had been installed in a attempt to pull in tourist revenue, but it only succeeded in decorating the shoreline. Thanatos remembered looking at it from a distance with Daphne, way back when she gave him her number, and he was glad to bring her up closer. </p>
<p>Daphne laughed, <br/>“Oh! This is so sweet. Thank you, Thanatos.” </p>
<p>The line was empty, and the car was spacey. But Daphne scooted up to Thanatos, interlacing her fingers with his. Blue blush creeped up the death god’s face, and he turned to meet her eyes. <br/>“I’m glad I got my shit together.”</p>
<p>Leaning closer, Daphne whispered to him:<br/>“I’m proud of you for doing that.” </p>
<p>She leaned closer, and moved one of her hands to rest on Thanatos’s cheek.<br/>“Can I kiss you, Than?” </p>
<p>Thanatos nodded, closing the gap between their lips. They brushed up against each other, almost afraid. Daphne kept her hands on Thanatos’s face, and he gently let his hands come to a rest on Daphne’s hip, holding her gently. </p>
<p>They pulled each other closer together, Daphne’s lips tasted of sweet blossoms, and Thanatos’s espresso still lingered on his breath. He never expected to like Daphne as much as he did, but there was a voice in the back of his head that whispered <em>she’s your flavor</em>. </p>
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